Sigma Planning Corp Takes $957,000 Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Sigma Planning Corp bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 15,119 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $957,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.22, for a total value of $995,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $591,090. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.22, for a total value of $995,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $591,090. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 506,687 shares of company stock valued at $36,029,679 over the last quarter. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX stock opened at $55.06 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.66. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -59.20 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.34 and a 52-week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

Viking Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's lead drug candidate is VK2809, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRß), which is in Phase IIb clinical trials to treat patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, as well as NAFLD.